Shanti Soup Curry Dining

In Harajuku in Tokyo, we had lunch at Shanti, a soup curry restaurant. This kind of curry, I read, originated from Sapporo, Hokkaido, and consists of a light broth made of spring water and various spices with vegetables and various meats added in and served with a side of rice.
I got the special "Black-Eyed Peas" soup curry (yes, the named after the band). It had corn and black-eyed peas mixed in. The flavor was nice.
We had the option of getting the spice 1 to 10. I got a 6 which was really actually quite mild. The Japanese are not much for the heat I guess. We also got a nice side of fried naan with our meal.

Honoraly Harajuku Bldg.2F
3-26-11 Jingu-mae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
03-5772-6424

Super Takoyaki Balls in Tokyo

On our first day in Tokyo, we went to a section of town called Akihabara, aka "Electric Town", an area know for it's electronics and "otaku" stores. We walked past some food vans, and I immediately knew I wanted to try a cart that featured giant Takoyaki stuffed with 10 ingredients.

Normal takoyaki, consists of a ball of batter filled with squid, but these takoyaki advertised 10 items including squid, clam, sausage, cabbage, mashed potato, quail egg, mushrooms, corn, and 2 other things I could not identify (sorry). They were also about 3-4 times larger than the usual takoyaki- about 3-4 inches in diameter.
The ball is then topped with okonomiyaki sauce, bonito, and mayo. The cart offered alternate toppings like cheese, kimchee, and onions as well.
It was like eating a giant spherical Japanese hot pocket- yum.

McDonald's in Tokyo

Kelly and I were in Tokyo last week, and I've got a few upcoming posts from the trip, but I figured I'd start with some fun.
With Japan recently winning the World Baseball Classic, the Japan McDonald's was promoting the special McHotdog. Oddly enough, it was meant for breakfast!?!
I ordered it as a meal one morning with a coffee and hash brown. The McHotdog was actually a decent hot dog on a whole wheat bun with ketchup, mustard and relish.

I did not get the try to advertised McPork, which I'm assuming was a take on the Japanese Katsu style deep fried pork sandwich.
Kelly's favorite item was something we got at Narita airport as we were leaving Japan, the Green Tea Oreo McFlurry. It was pretty great- if they had this in the US, I would be in trouble- the green tea flavor complemented the Oreo cookie so well.

Elements, Princeton NJ

Princeton finally has a good restaurant! The biggest compliment I can pay Elements is that while we were there, we forgot we were in Princeton. It felt like New York or Philadelphia in every aspect -- decor, service, and most importantly, the food. And when we finished our 3 hour tasting menu at midnight, we only had to a travel a couple miles up the road!

We partook of the $75 Winter Tasting Menu. The guys got the wine pairings with it. We started out with an amuse of kobe lardo (made from the leftover bits from making other dishes - can't waste good kobe!) And tiny bites of the citrus salad, and scallop crudo. The scallop made me want to go back and order the whole appetizer - I've recently realized that I really prefer scallop raw over cooked.

The first course was a Kindai tuna tartare. Kindai is a new farm-raised bluefin tuna shipped over from Japan, which is supposed to have lower mercury levels and of course be more eco-friendly than eating caught tuna. I'm happy to eat sustainable tuna and do my part in the over-fishing problem.

We also got the pork belly appetizer for the table. God, I love pork belly -- nothing quite comes close to the goodness of pork. And the accoutrements for this dish - Bartlett pear, radish, and whatever was in that sauce - were excellent.

Next course were scallops. I'm forgetting exactly how they were served - with some vegetable puree, wild mushrooms and a foam. Different from the diver scallop dish on the regular menu.

Next course was squab (from the local Griggstown Farm). This was my favorite dish on the tasting. The broth was delicious, the squab was a perfect medium rare. And the last meat dish, was filet mignon with potato puree, maitake mushrooms, and Swiss chard -- also excellent.

Next, they brought out a cheese course, with three hard cheese all from local cheesemakers, starting left to right going from younger and milder to more aged and pungent. The accompaniments with each cheese complemented really well. For the last, most pungent cheese, it actually came with grape jelly and chocolate shavings!

The only disappointing item on the tasting menu was the dessert. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't quite up to the level of everything else, I thought.

Finally, they brought some miniature cookies and petitfours, and sent us home with a mini pound cake to have for breakfast the next day.


Again, all I can say is Hallelujah for finally having a place like this in Princeton!

Elements
163 Bayard Lane
Princeton, NJ
609.924.0078

Momofuku Ssam Bar

Petitesouer and I went to Momofuku Ssam Bar for lunch. We got there just before the rush. I like the Momofuku enterprises, but my main thing with them is they are way overpriced. So the $25 prix fixe three-course lunch special seemed like a good deal.

First course was a choice of either the kimchi apple salad, pickles, or roast pork buns. For two bargain-hunters such as us, there was no question -- it had to be pork buns. Petiteseour's stomach was not quite up for fatty pork, but I happily gobbled up her's as well as mine - the pork buns just taste like my childhood.

Since it was 2 of us sharing one prix-fixe lunch, we supplemented with the Satur farm's fried brussels sprouts with mint, scallions, and fish sauce vinaigrette. This was great - brussel sprouts were slightly charred and crispy, but nice and tender and the sauce had a great blend of flavors - and the crunch of the puffed rice was nice.

Second course was a choice of grilled branzino, braised beef brisket, or spicy rice cakes with pork sausage, chinese broccoli, and crispy shallots.

We opted for the rice cakes - it had a nice amount of heat, the rice cakes were well-cooked. The sausage lent it a fusion flavor - different than traditional Asian rice cake dishes. I'd have been happy trying either of the other choices as well - the branzino (which as an entree costs $21) seems like it would have been a steal of a deal, and the brisket (which we saw over at the next table) looked delicious.

Finally, third course was dessert: a choice between blondie pie, and their signature PB&J -- which is a peanut butter pannacotta on a peanutty wafer cookie, topped with strawberry jam and saltines. The whole thing (other than the jam) was oddly salty -- not in a good accent salt kind of way - which I really like in dessert, where you get just a hint of salt to cut the sweetness. No, this dessert started sweet on the tongue and finished salty in the aftertaste. It was interesting, but I would have liked to finish sweet.

I and 1000yregg are curious about the Bo Ssam dish - the whole pork butt with a dozen oysters, served with kimchi, rice, and lettuce accompaniment. The dish costs friggin $200! Petiteseour said she had heard it served about 8-10 people, but when Bourdain had it on No Reservations, it didn't look that big to either me or 1000yregg, but who knows -- we're Chinese and have a skewed sense of what a lot of food is... There is a recipe from David Change online - maybe if I'm ambitious I'll try it.

Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 Second Avenue
New York, NY

The Bacon Explosion

So we jumped on the bandwagon last month and made the Bacon Explosion. Smoked it with hickory, along with a whole chicken.

I have to say that I think the recipe needs some work - there's nothing revelatory - it tastes like you'd expect bacon, sausage, and bbq sauce to taste. And it was really salty.

I feel like some element of starch needs to be added - like stuffing in mashed potatoes, or making it en croute - just something. Perhaps further experimentation is necessary...

Akosombo, Ghanian food in DC

This past weekend, I went to see M. Ward to play in DC, so I wanted to try a new place to eat. It was DC restaurant week, so all the well know places were pretty booked. While eating at Elfegne cafe a few weeks ago, crowsonguy mentions Ghanaian food, and by chance I happened upon a yelp listing for Akosombo, a block away from the concert venue.

The description was definitely gear to unafraid eaters- I was sold.
First off, the location has no sign and looked to be in slight disarray (view-bldg left of tree). There were plenty of cabs parked outside- a good sign. Cab drivers know good food.
The inside was modest to say the least, but welcoming. With no menu, I went to the back of the place where a server basically makes you plates from a 10 foot long steam table.

Since it was late, some of their dishes were already gone for the day, but I got a sampler plate of Ghanaian cuisine. I started with a groundnut/peanut soup with goat- really nice flavor and the goat was tender.
I then got a plate of rice with a slow cooked chicken with sauce and spinach with flecks of egusi, a seed of some sort.

Lastly, I got a fufu, a starch ball of cassava and plantain. With it, they gave me a spicy soup with a whole fish thrown in. At first, I picked the fufu and dipped it into the soup, but after awhile it was much easier with the whole ball in the soup.
Amazingly, everything totaled to only about $11. I was told I need to come back in the daytime to try other dishes like waakye and red-red. I will.

613 K St NW
(between N 6th St & N 7th St)
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 408-1133

Don Panchito's Mexican and Salvadoran Grill, Cockeysville, MD

My folks and I were out in my hometown of Cockeysville, MD when we saw a restaurant in the Cranbrook Plaza shopping center advertising Mexican and Salvadoran food. I convinced my parents to give it a try and it turned out great.
We started with an appetizer of Yuca con Chicharron, fried pork bites with cassava.

We also ordered a Pupusa Revuelta (above), filled with cheese and pork. It was really nice. They seemed to include a small cabbage salad with each appetizer as well.
We tried the Tamales de Pollo, chicken tamale, which was surprisingly light and fluffy.

For entrees, we ordered a plate of Tacos de Lengua and the Bistec Encebollado, or beef stew. They were served with corn tortillas and refried beans that were clearly made with yummy lard.

Another time we went, we tried the Don Panchito Shrimp, a spicy tomato based shrimp dish, and the Guisado de Puerco, or pork stew, which was my favorite.
I particularly liked the family atmosphere to the restaurant which clearly catered to the local community of Mexican and Salvadoran transplants.

558 Cranbrook Rd
Cockeysville, MD 21030
(410) 628-1164